


That Suspense Fic

by AJsRandom



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack, F/M, Magic, Reincarnation, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 19:31:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8502586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJsRandom/pseuds/AJsRandom
Summary: Morgana finds a spell book in a shop and decides it'll make the perfect ending to her annual Halloween/Samhain party. What happens after is something even I couldn't predict. A short story told in drabbles.





	1. Spell

Morgana smiled as she exited the magic shop. The spell book had been an excellent find. It was sure to enhance her annual Halloween/Samhain party. It had plenty of authentic-looking spells in it, and she planned to try it out on that night, after everyone but her best friends had gone home.

When she got home, she lay on her bed and cracked open the book. She browsed through it, noting the use of at least four languages, including Latin and old English. Some of the shorter spells she looked up with various internet translators. Those we pretty simple ones, like starting fire or creating water. Soon she had to put it away to work on her homework, though it remained in the back of her mind.

oooOooo

Soon the day of the party arrived. Morgana invited her best friend, Gwen, and her boyfriend, Merlin over to help decorate the house. She conned her half-brother, Arthur, into helping by telling him Gwen would be there—he had a crush on her. Her father and stepmother always left that weekend for a short holiday because they wanted nothing to do with the party. They trusted Morgana to run the party well and clean up after, and she always did.

The four friends enjoyed putting up fake cobwebs and creating creepy food. Morgana even had the perfect Halloween party playlist, which they listened to while they worked. When everything was finally done, they all went to separate rooms to change into their costumes.

Morgana dressed in a lacy black dress with a slit up to her knee. She was going for sexy witch, and in her opinion, she’d nailed it. She’s know for sure when Merlin saw it. Arthur dressed as a knight, complete with chainmail he’d bought at a Ren fair. Gwen had sewed her own princess dress and found a gorgeous crown at a secondhand shop. Merlin always dressed as a wizard in a starry robe, playing off of his name, and Arthur always made fun of him for it.

The party went well. There was plenty of dancing and even a few silly party games. Fortunately, no one got drunk and/or sick, so Morgana didn’t have to worry about that. Everyone appeared to enjoy themselves, so she patted herself on the back and called it good.

Gwen started to clean up but Morgana stopped her. “Come on, I have something in my room I want to show you guys.”

Arthur and Merlin came over. “Gana, what is it?” Merlin asked.

“You’ll have to wait and see. Come on!” She led the way upstairs to her room and pulled the heavy old book out from beneath her bed. “Check this out.”

“An old book?” Arthur scoffed. “We have plenty of those in the library.”

“Not like this. It’s a spell book.”

“A spell book?” Merlin reached out for the cover and touched it. He pulled his hand away quickly. “Do you feel that? It’s warm.”

“Well the heating’s in the floor,” Morgana replied.

“Not like that. It’s . . . I can’t describe it. Familiar maybe? But I’ve never seen this before.”

“Let’s open it,” Gwen said.

“All right. Let’s sit on the floor in a circle.” Merlin and Arthur sat next to her and Gwen across from her. “I have this really cool-looking spell all picked out to try.”

“Whoa,” Arthur replied. “You’re going to try and cast a spell? Are you serious?”

“Look at the book, Arthur, it seems genuine to me,” Merlin said.

“You just want to stay on your girlfriend’s good side.”

Merlin frowned. “No, it’s not that. It just feels real. Like these could really work.”

Arthur noticed Gwen watching him curiously. “Oh, all right then. Let’s try it out.”

“I knew you’d come around,” Morgana smirked. “Okay, here’s the right page.” She flipped to a page she had marked. It was colorfully decorated, which led Morgana to believe it was a good, positive spell. “I hope I’m saying this right. “ _Ácwi_ _ðe_ _ús_ _þe gedryhte for_ _ús alifians_.”

Merlin watched as Morgana’s eyes lit up as if on fire. “Gana, your eyes—”

He was cut off by a terrible scream that seemed to emanate from everywhere at once. The lights went out in the room and there was a rumbling like thunder, though it had been perfectly clear outside. A figure began to coalesce in front of them. It eventually resolved to that of an ancient-looking woman who looked to have the sadness of ages in her eyes. She pointed her finger at Morgana and opened her mouth to speak.


	2. Fate

“You, Morgana of the Fae, wish to know your fate?” She turned to Merlin, “And you, Emrys?” She turned again to see Arthur and Gwen. “You also, Arthur Pendragon and Guinevere Smith?”

“Morgana, what have you gotten us into now?” Arthur yelled over the screaming that continued in the background.

“I don’t know. I didn’t Google this one!” she yelled back.

“Listen to me!” the woman shouted. Morgana, Arthur, Merlin, and Gwen were each thrown a few feet back.

“Whoa!” Merlin and Gwen yelled. Arthur and Morgana just screamed.

“We’re listening!” Gwen said.

The room went quiet. Well, quieter. The horrible shrieks died down and the four friends all crawled over to where Morgana now sat, staring at the woman. “I am the Callieach, guardian of the dead. I was chosen to reveal your fates to you.”

“Our fates? Is that what that spell did?” Morgana wondered.

“Child, you have no idea of the power that lies within you. For you to have called me forth required great strength of magic.”

“Magic?” Arthur scoffed. “There’s no such thing.”

The Calleach turned her haunted eyes to Arthur. “You would do well not to dismiss that which you do not know, Arthur Pendragon.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied.

She now looked into Merlin’s eyes. “Emrys, your power is no less great. It is your fate to walk alongside Morgana to guide and protect the Once and Future King and Queen.”

“Why do you call me Emrys?” Merlin asked.

“Because that is your name from ages past. This is not your first walk upon this earth. Indeed all of you have been reborn for this time.

“Morgana, you will walk alongside Emrys to protect the Once and Future King and Queen. Together you will achieve greatness if you do not stumble.”

Merlin took Morgana’s hand and squeezed it. She smiled back at him.

“Who’s this Once and Future King and Queen?” Arthur asked.

“Arthur and Guinevere, you are the Once and Future King and Queen. A great calamity will soon arise that you will have to protect this world from. Together with Emrys and Morgana, you can defeat it. But you must work as one to achieve this victory.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up. “Do you mean we’re reincarnated members of King Arthur’s court?”

“Yes, Guinevere.”

“Whoa.” The four friends looked at each other in wonder. “How is this possible?” Merlin asked.

“Magic demanded it.”

“What is this great calamity we’re to face?” Arthur asked.

“I cannot tell you that. What I can tell you is this: you will face many challenges along the way, each of you. But if you are strong, you will persevere and save the world. That is all. I must go.”

“Wait,” Morgana cried, “we don’t know enough to help us. How will we—?”

The Callieach began fading from view. “Look to the book. Learn. What you need is in there. Now, farewell.” She disappeared and the screams of the dead went with her, leaving the room in silence.

“That just happened, right? You didn’t spike the food with funny mushrooms, did you Morgana?”

“No, Arthur, you were right there the whole time. And yes, that really happened.”

“So we are actual figures from Arthurian lore, did I get that right? Gwen asked.

“That’s what I understood,” Merlin replied.

“So should we start sorting this out now or what?” Arthur wondered.

“I think I want to let this sit for a night,” Morgana said. The other three nodded. “Besides, we have a party to clean up after.”

Merlin helped Morgana stand and Arthur helped Gwen. Together but in a daze, the four friends cleaned up after the party, picking up trash and washing dishes until everything was tidy. “I’ll walk Gwen home,” Arthur said.

Merlin looked at Morgana, who nodded. “We’ll come with you.” Merlin’s place wasn’t far from Gwen’s.

“Thanks,” Gwen added gratefully.

The four began walking after Morgana locked the house. They tried to talk about anything but their experience with the Callieach, but somehow they always circled back to her. After the fourth time of changing the subject, Morgana noticed footsteps behind them “What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Merlin asked quietly.

“Something or someone is behind us.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s this?” Arthur asked.

“Footsteps behind us. Listen,” Merlin told him.

They walked along in silence for a minute and Gwen and Arthur heard the footsteps. “What should we do?” Gwen asked.

“Well, there’s one of him and four of us, so we should definitely confront him,” Arthur stated.

“Okay,” Morgana whispered. “On the count of three. One . . . two . . . three.”


	3. Attack

The four friends turned around at the same time to confront whoever was behind them.  Nearly as one they gasped and looked up. Several meters behind them, they saw an exceedingly tall man. He stopped where he was and looked back at them, though they couldn’t see his eyes.

“Okay, now say something,” Arthur whispered to Morgana.

“Why me?” she whispered back.

“Because this whole evening is all your fault!”

“Fine!” She took a step forward and raised her voice. “Hello, can we help you with something?”

The man said nothing, but pointed one long arm at Arthur.

“What, me?” Arthur said.

The tall man nodded. “Come with me.” His voice was deep, sonorous, and chilled the four friends to the bone.

Merlin took a step forward. “Why him?”

The man began walking forward again, his long strides quickly shrinking the space between them. “Must kill the King,” he said, still moving toward them.

Morgana and Merlin looked at each other. “We can’t let you do that,” Morgana said.

The man had almost reached them. “No, stop!” Merlin said. He threw out a hand as if to physically stop him. The others watched his eyes glow gold and the man was pushed back several meters.

“Wow, Merlin!” Gwen said. At the same time, the man growled and started running toward them. Merlin and Morgana pushed both their arms in front of them. “ _Astrice_!” they yelled together.

The instant the spells hit the man, he exploded soundlessly into a million bits which dissolved midair. Nothing remained. They all stared at the space that once held the tall man. Or had it been a man at all? There was no way to tell now.

“Well, what now?” Arthur asked. “Should I start carrying a sword around? Though that would hardly work at school, or well, anywhere. I guess maybe one of you could magic up a sword that transforms into a pen, like Percy Jackson, that would be really—”

“Arthur, shut up,” Morgana said.

“Thank you,” Gwen sighed.

“What we do now,” Morgana started, “is we get Gwen and Merlin home. Quickly, before anything else can attack us.”

The four hastened their steps toward Gwen’s house and reached it safely. After making sure nothing unseemly was hiding in her house, Morgana rejoined Arthur and Merlin to walk to Merlin’s house.

Soon they stood in front of Merlin’s house. Arthur turned his back so the couple could share a quick hug and kiss. While still holding her, Merlin told her to be careful. She told him she would and they reluctantly parted. He went inside his house and Arthur and Morgana turned to walk home where they each said “goodnight” and went to their separate rooms.

Morgana walked carefully into hers, as if it might still be haunted by the mysterious Callieach. But nothing but knocked over possessions remained of their earlier experience. She picked up the spell book and put it under her bed again. Hopefully she’d sleep the rest of the night after all she’d gone through with her friends.

She woke in the morning and stretched before the events of the night before caught up to her. She sighed and rolled over, her mind suddenly thinking a million thoughts at once. Fortunately her phone rang at that moment, distracting her nicely. “Hello!”

“Morgana!” It was Merlin. “Are you ready to face the day?”

“No.”

“Too bad. I’m coming over soon and I’m bringing Gwen. We should be—what is that?”

“What is what?” There was no answer. “Merlin? What’s going on?” No answer, but she could hear him talking in the background. There was a sudden scream and the phone cut off.


	4. United

“Dammit!” Morgana yelled.

The door to her room opened and Arthur poked his head inside. “What’s going on?”

Morgana tossed the phone to her bed and got out of it. “It sounds like chaos is breaking out at Merlin’s house. We’ve got to get down there right away.”

“Now would be a good time to make me that sword . . .” Arthur yelled as he ran to get dressed.

Morgana pulled on her clothes from last night and dashed out of her room the same time Arthur did. Together they left the house at a run with Arthur still mumbling about the sword.

“Would you shut up about the sword already? I know where yours is but we don’t have time to get it now.”

Arthur looked hurt at that but there was little she could do about it now. Soon they passed the place where they’d had the confrontation with the tall man-thing. They briefly debated picking up Gwen but decided to leave her out of it. They didn’t want her caught up in whatever danger Merlin was facing.

They arrived at Merlin’s house to find the front door hanging from its hinges. Yelling and banging came from inside. The siblings glanced at each other before charging inside to find mayhem of all sorts—furniture and clothing strewn about, food lying spilled everywhere, and little fires burning here and there. Morgana tried not to panic and instead called out Merlin’s name.

A strangled cry came from upstairs. Morgana and Arthur took off in that direction and found Merlin in the hall staring at a blonde woman. She looked familiar to Morgana and her name came into her mind. “Morgause?”

The blonde woman looked past Merlin to Morgana and her face slid into a smile. “Sister! Come, help me defeat this wretch and together we can defeat the Once and Future King and Queen!”

“Why are you attacking my boyfriend?” Morgana cried.

“Your . . . boyfriend?” Morgause looked confused. “But don’t you hate him for what he’s done?”

“Hate him? No.” Merlin and Arthur were giving her strange looks. She shook her head and addressed Morgause again. “The past is past, Morgause. Arthur and Gwen will defeat a great evil and Merlin and I are to help and protect them.”

“You’re on his side? But don’t you want their power for yourself?”

“Their power? Morgause, I have power enough.” Morgana created a ball of light in her hand. “I’d rather enjoy the peace we’ll bring together.” She stepped up to stand next to Merlin. Arthur moved to stand next to her. “You don’t have to fight anymore.”

“I-I . . . no! You don’t understand, Morgana! None of you! If you don’t come with me then I’ll have to fight you,” Morgause said.

“Do your worst,” Arthur replied.

“I will. _Astrice_!”

“ _Scildan_!” Merlin yelled. His shield spell dispersed the killing spell.

Morgause howled in anger. “Goodbye, sister.” She yelled the transport spell, and with a burst of wind, she was gone.

“Well that was just great,” Arthur commented.

Morgana and Merlin looked at him in surprise. “Wha? Are you kidding?” Merlin said. He gestured down the stairs. “It’s not your house that’s in shambles! How am I going to explain this to my parents?”

Arthur shrugged and turned to head back downstairs. Merlin and Morgana followed, hand in hand. Morgana waved her hand and the fires went out. The three friends got to work righting everything as well as they could without magic, then dug deep to remember various spells that would repair the broken and burned. After working for a couple hours, they flopped down on the fixed sofas.

“Yay,” Merlin said weakly.

A ringing began somewhere in the room. Everyone looked around for a moment before Arthur said. “Oh!” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his mobile. “It’s Gwen! Hey Gwen, how’s it going?”

Merlin and Morgana rolled their eyes but went back to cuddling. They listened to Arthur’s side of the conversation. “You’re where? . . . Oh, yeah I guess we were going to do that this morning . . . well, we’re all over here at Merlin’s . . . it’s the craziest thing, actually. A sorceress attacked Merlin. Do you remember Morgause? . . . Oh, okay. Do you want us to come over there or do you want to come over here? . . . Sounds good. Okay, bye.” He grinned at the couple. “She’s coming over so we can have The Talk. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Merlin replied tiredly.

They all settled back into the sofas to wait, glad the drama was over for the day, or so they hoped. They knew their path lay together and that together they could handle whatever lay in store for them.


End file.
